Advanced Manufacturing

St. Louis has a long history and a bright future as a center of advanced manufacturing, which relies on sophisticated techniques to produce high value-added products. The region is particularly well positioned for growth in two sectors:

• Aerospace and defense — St. Louis is headquarters for Boeing’s Boeing Defense, Space and Security unit, the company’s largest subsidiary, which is responsible for defense and aerospace products. St. Louis is also home to DRS Sustainment Systems, GKN Aerospace, and other defense-related companies. The Center for Aerospace Manufacturing Technologies was created in partnership with Missouri University of Science and Technology, Boeing Phantom Works, and the Air Force Research Laboratory, and it serves as a center for the development and transition of innovative advanced technologies for the aerospace manufacturing industry.

• Food products — St. Louis has an extraordinary base in such companies as Anheuser-Busch InBev, Solae, Nestlé Purina PetCare, and Bunge International. Now it’s emerging as a leader in the development of functional foods and nutraceuticals, which use foods to deliver specific health benefits and even therapeutics.

The St. Louis area offers excellent support for advanced manufacturing. It is rich in high-end machining and metal working firms and in IT talent. It has a strong specialization in beverages, along with a growing base of food product companies, which have significant opportunities for synergies with the area’s plant and medical sciences community. The St. Louis area’s central location saves time and costs. It has a high concentration of engineers and scientists. And it has plentiful and reasonably priced supplies of water and energy.

A longtime manufacturing center in rapidly evolving industries, local goods-producing firms contributed about 17 percent of the region’s Gross Product and nearly 9 percent of the region’s total employment in 2009, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Key to a successful advanced manufacturing program is a highly skilled work force, which is why St. Louis Community College developed the Emerson Center for Engineering Manufacturing at its Florissant Valley campus. This 31,000-square-foot facility features 14,000 square feet of classrooms and laboratory space, which are equipped with high-end CAD and design solutions for plastics, metal and micro-electronics manufacturing, as well as dimensional metrology, quality measurement, testing and process controls.